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Palmer Theatre Companies colleagues 

Union Square Stock Co   Madison Square Stock Co.   Palmer's Theatre

Maurice Barrymore  (1847-1905) Born Herbert Blythe in India he came to New York in 1875, first working for Augustin Daly.  He moved to Wallacks and then to AM Palmers in 1888, playing Wilding in Captain Swift (1889)  and Captain Davenport in Alabama.  "In his last active years, his erratic behavior, stemming from the paresis [syphilis] that ultimately killed him, caused producers to shun him, so he turned to vaudeville."  Husband of Georgie Drew Barrymore and father of John, Ethel and Lionel. [Oxford] 

   Maurice Barrymore  

EJ Phillips saw Barrymore as Orlando in As You Like It (with Helena Modjeska) in San Francisco in Aug. 1886 before he joined Palmer's company.  Aunt Jack (1889) was written for Barrymore. A founder of the  5As American Actors Amateur Athletic Association.  Played Lord Darlington in Palmer's production of Lady Windermere's Fan, one of "the most showy parts in the play" according to Odell.  Barrymore was 39 in 1886, when he joined Palmer's company. The main Palmer plays EJ Phillips was in with him was Jim the Penman (and Pharisee) and Lady Windermere's Fan..  He was Romeo to Olga Nethersole's Juliet, when EJ Phillips played the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet. .  EJ Phillips' reviews were better than Barrymore in this play, and better than some of Olga Nethersoles.

Kotsilibas-Davis, James, Great Times Good Times: The Odyssey of Maurice Barrymore, Garden City NY: Doubleday 1977.  https://archive.org/details/greattimesgoodti00kots
Maurice Barrymore obituaries and final days http://greenroomchatter.blogspot.com/2009/08/maurice-barrymore-1849-1905.html
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Barrymore   Eulogy http://nystage1903.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/ssvulcania-mauricebarrymore1.jpg 
Buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Philadelphia
Anecdotes of Maurice Barrymore http://greenroomchatter.blogspot.com/2009/08/maurice-barrymore-1849-1905.html

Agnes Booth (1846-1910) Born in Australia, first appeared in the US aged 12 in San Francisco as a child dancer.  Married at 16 to Harry Perry and widowed a year later.  She married Junius Brutus Booth, Jr. (brother of Edwin and son of the more famous actor of the same name) in 1865 (and was widowed again in 1883).  Junius Brutus Booth Jr. appeared with EJ Phillips in Othello the night John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln (Apr. 1865, Cincinnati Ohio)     

Agnes Booth, Between the Acts cigarette card   May Brookyn Our Society review San Francisco 1888

She surprised many with her excellent comic skills as the openly selfish Belinda Treherne in Engaged in 1879...Joining AM Palmer when his ensemble was at its height, she won distinction as the deceived Mrs. Ralston in Jim the Penman (1886); Mrs. Seabrook, the woman with a secret in Captain Swift (1888); the comic, uninhibited Joan Bryson, otherwise known as Aunt Jack (1889).  

After leaving Palmer in 1892, her star began to wane, to some extent because of poorly chosen vehicles, but also because her robust acting style was seen as superannuated by the newer naturalistic schools.  Oxford Companion to American Theatre

Agnes Booth was 37 in 1883. She appeared with EJ Phillips in Pink Dominoes in 1877. Old Love Letters was described as an Agnes Booth vehicle since 1878. Described  in a New York Times review as a star of Jim the Penman.  EJP reports that she wore "some very fine dresses" Nov. 1886   Her second husband Junius Brutus Booth Jr. died in Sept. 1883.  Her third husband, Julius Schoeffel is the one occasionally mentioned in these letters..

Her son Sydney Barton Booth [1873-1937] joined Richard Mansfield's company in June 1888. Sarony photo http://ufdc.ufl.edu/part1/results/?t=%22Booth+Sydney%22 
Buried at Rosedale Cemetery, Manchester by the Sea Massachusetts http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11575508

Agnes Booth (1843-1910) as Mrs Ralston in Jim the Penman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Booth#/media/File:Agnes_Booth_2.jpg
Agnes Booth in Aunt Jack, National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an10698679-1 
NY Times obituary Jan. 3 1910 https://www.nytimes.com/1910/01/03/archives/agnes-booth-once-star-actress-dead-succumbs-to-heart-disease-at-her.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1910/01/04/archives/agnes-booth.html
Agnes Booth are we so soon forgot?  NY Times Oct 15 1915 https://www.nytimes.com/1915/10/05/archives/so-soon-forgot.html
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Booth
Buried at Rosedale Cemetery, Manchester by the Sea Massachusetts http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11574594

May Brookyn (c. 1859-1894) First shows up in Our Society, went west with Palmer's company in 1886 and 1888. Described by EJ Phillips as one of the "weak lot to take to San Francisco" in 1888. Cast in Partners in Boston 1888. Played Maurice Barrymore's former sweetheart in Alabama, in the Pharisee in 1890-1891, in Palmer's Lady Windermere's Fan 1892.  Married Mr. King. May Brookyn was 24 in 1883.

Philadelphia July 4, 1888 When I left Boston besides myself there was only to be Misses May Brokyn, [elsewhere her name is spelled with two o's, but EJP consistently spelled it with one] [Marie] Burroughs, Kate] Moloney & Miss [Clara] Lipman all rolled into one would make a bad actress.  

May Brookyn's suicide in San Francisco Feb.17, 1894 Feb https://www.nytimes.com/1894/02/17/archives/may-brookyn-mourned-for-lovecraft-cause-of-the-suicide-of-the.html  She was reported to have been engaged to Frederick A Lovecraft. who killed himself in Oct 1893 https://www.nytimes.com/1893/10/27/archives/driven-crazy-by-his-losses-frederick-a-lovecraft-resorts-to-poison.html   A New York Times article about Lovecraft's will said he was business manager of Palmer's Theatre. https://www.nytimes.com/1894/03/15/archives/lovecraft-a-mental-wreck-suffering-from-melancholia-when-he-made.html   and the great uncle of  horror writer HP Lovecraft http://library.ucmo.edu/faculty/walker/limbonaut_5.html

About Stage Folks by William Ellis Horton 1902 http://books.google.com/books?id=tQQOAAAAYAAJ&dq=buried+%22May+brookyn%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s   says that May Brookyn is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Brooklyn, in the Actors' Fund plot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Brookyn

Marie Burroughs (1866-1926) Played Letty Fletcher, the minister's daughter in Saints and Sinners in 1885 and 1887. Played Florida Vervain, the lively American girl the priest (Alessandro Salvini) fell in love with in Foregone Conclusion 1886.  In cast of Margery's Lovers  and Elaine in Elaine 1887. Played Lucy Robins, the butler's niece in Heart of Hearts 1888. In Captain Swift in 1888. In Middleman and Judah in 1890.  Married Louis Massen. Published  Art Portfolio of Stage Celebrities in 1894. http://www.archive.org/details/marieburroughsar00chicuoft  Described by EJ Phillips as one of the "weak lot to take to San Francisco" in 1888.  Played a heroine of humble origins, about to marry a young man of high social position Partners in Boston and San Francisco 1888
Marie Burroughs Strang's Famous Actresses Omaha Excelsior Oct. 13,1888 Jim the Penman 

Marie Burroughs  was born in San Jose, California and invited to join the Madison Square Co. when she had finished her convent school education [about 1883]. She created the role of Queen Guinevere in Elaine and describes a rehearsal with the Palmer Company and Henry Arthur Jones in Saints and Sinners. She appeared in the first production of Pinero's "The Profligate".  Strang notes " While Miss Burrough's starring venture showed that she hardly had sufficient power alone to carry a play to success, she is nevertheless one of the most thoroughly equipped and most satisfactory leading women that we have.   She makes a strikingly beautiful picture on the stage;    her face is one of much sweetness and her personality one of great charm.     

Mr. Jones came to New York to rehearse "Saints and Sinners" said Miss Burroughs ...I shall never forget that last rehearsal of "saints and Sinners." It took place on the afternoon of the day of the first performance. It began at an early hour in the morning. It came to an abrupt end in the middle of the long afternoon, five hours and more later, with me in tears, Mr. Jones in a tantrum, and the whole company in disorder, and only the third act reached. 

With Mr. Palmer Miss Burroughs also acted Florida in "A Foregone Conclusion," Marjory in :Marjory's Lovers" and appeared in "Partners", "Heart of Hearts", "Captain Swift" and other plays.  In 1889 Miss Burroughs went to London and saw Mr. Willard in "the Middleman", though at that time she had no idea of playing with him in this country. Olga Brandon was engaged ... but at the last moment refused to leave London. Then Miss Burroughs got her opportunity, and her work with Mr.. Willard added greatly to her reputation."

When actress Marie Burroughs's divorce was announced in the papers, [Willa] Cather wrote in her column that Marie wanted to be free for her work and free from the obligation of matrimony. The fact that her husband had been her teacher and coach made her ungrateful, but then all actresses are ungrateful. "If they are actresses worthy of the name, they always have a premier amour to whom they return, their work."  Willa Cather: A Literary Life, James Woodress 1987 http://cather.unl.edu/life.woodress.html

Burrough/Massen divorce NY Times 1895   mentions that Louis Massen had been unfaithful and the couple had separated but Marie Burroughs had been assured [incorrectly] that a divorce in California could be procured in" utmost secrecy".
https://www.nytimes.com/1895/04/04/archives/marie-burroughss-divorce-suit.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1895/04/13/archives/burroughs-divorce-abandoned.html

Married first Louis Massen, second marriage Robert MacPherson 1901 https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19010429.2.68&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1
Third marriage March 19 1902 https://www.nytimes.com/1908/03/19/archives/marie-burroughs-to-wed-the-actress-is-to-marry-francis-m-livingston.html

Who's Who on the Stage 1908 http://books.google.com/books?id=1BpAAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22her+father%22+%22madison+square%22++1890&source=gbs_navlinks_s  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Burroughs
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Burroughs

William [Pleater] Davidge (1814-1888) Born in England, principal comedian Davidge first appeared in the US in 1850 at the Broadway Theatre. He later acted with Daly’s and Palmer’s Madison Square Theatre Companies. “Rare Old Bill” was awarded a special testimonial during his fiftieth year on the stage (which EJ Phillips acted in on April 21, 1887) and died the next year, in Wyoming, on his way to San Francisco with the Madison Square Company. “Generally regarded as an actor of the old formal school, his assignments ranged from classic roles such as Bottom and Sir Toby Belch to important comic parts in newer ephemeral works” [Oxford]  For [Elizabeth Clark] and their three children he maintained as a home in Brooklyn a house he had won in a lottery in 1858. [Dictionary of American Biography]  Davidge was 69 in 1883. 

 Wm. Davidge drawing from New York obituary 

Theatre historian Mary Shortt refers to "the popular comedian, William P. Davidge, Sr. visiting Toronto regularly in the 1850's, while John Nickinson was at the Royal Lyceum.  1854-1858  Davidge was the original Dick Deadeye in HMS Pinafore in 1879,

"On the afternoon of April 21st [1887 was offered] a testimonial to William Pleater Davidge, in commemoration of his fiftieth year of active service on the stage" including John Gilbert and Herbert Kelcey, Davidge's colleagues from the Madison Square Theatre -- Stoddart, Holland...Massen, Holliday, Millward and Marie Burroughs in the third act of Saints and Sinners [Odell] EJ Phillips was part of this performance.  Davidge played Peter Greenacre in Saints and Sinners, described as "a disreputable old man, with evidences of hard drinking"

JH Stoddart writes in his memoirs Recollections of a Player]  about Davidge preparing for the Palmer Company trip to California in 1888.  "It was thought necessary to purchase a few essential things, such as fruit and other delicacies. Most of us, too, donned costumes suitable for crossing the desert. I remember William Davidge's get-up caused us much amusement.  He wore the most eccentric suit of clothes and a sort of helmet hat, also carrying half a dozen palm- leaf fans and a large basket of fruit and provisions. "What do you think of this make-up, boys?" he said. "No fear of the alkali spoiling these things, is there?"

Henry Andrews (18?-1868) painting of William Pleater Davidge as Malvolio in Twelfth Night, c.1846  https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/william-pleater-davidge-as-malvolio-in-twelfth-night-by-william-shakespeare-228474

Davidge as Pistol in King Henry V https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~271426~118722:Mr--W--Davidge-as-Pistol--in-Shakes

Wm. Pleater Davidge short biography, Dictionary of American Biography
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pleater_Davidge  
Autobiography Footlight Flashes 1866 http://books.google.com/books?id=sclOAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s  Wallack is mentioned 5 times, but not Palmer or Daly. Of course their heydays were after the publication of this book.
Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library has some of Davidge's papers and account books.
NY Times obituary Aug 11,1888 https://www.nytimes.com/1888/08/11/archives/william-davidges-sudden-death.html
NY Times Funeral Aug 13, 15 1888  https://www.nytimes.com/1888/08/13/archives/wp-davidges-funeral.html   https://www.nytimes.com/1888/08/15/archives/funeral-of-william-p-davidge.html
Davidge is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn https://www.cypresshillscemetery.org/timeline-2/history/.

Maud Harrison (1854-1907)  [Mrs. Edward M. Bell] was a member of the Madison Square,  Union Square and Palmer's Companies.  The New York Dramatic Mirror obituary of EJP notes  "The great number of friends that she leaves behind is evidenced by the many letters of condolence received by Mrs. Dolman [Hattie] and by Maude Harrison, who was to Mrs. Phillips almost as a daughter."  Maud Harrison made her stage debut in 1875 in Dion Boucicault's The Flying Scud or Four-Legged Fortune  [the first of the popular horse racing melodramas 1866] with the Brooklyn Theatre Company. Played with EJ Phillips in STORMBEATEN. Left Palmer's to join Daniel Frohman's Lyceum Company.   Maud Harrison was 29 in 1883.  
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maud_Harrison,_from_World%27s_Beauties,_Series_2_(N27)_for_Allen_%26_Ginter_Cigarettes_MET_DP838131.jpg

NY Times obituary April 29 1907 https://www.nytimes.com/1907/04/29/archives/maud-harrison-dead-actress-succumbs-to-paralytic-stroke-found.html 
The "bright, sparkling" Maude or Maud Harrison made her acting debut in Brooklyn - her home town - in 1875, then made her 1876 New York City debut at the Union Square Theatre.

Maud Harrison Our Society Review San Francisco 1888   Between the Acts cigarette card found on Ebay
  E.M. Holland, Strang's Famous Actors, 1900        Omaha Excelsior Oct. 13,1888 Jim the Penman 

Edmund Milton Holland (1848-1913)  Joined Wallack's Company in 1867, his actor father insisting that his son be billed as E. Milton until he was sure he would not discredit the family name.  After thirteen years at Wallack's, and a London engagement, he joined Palmer's Madison Square company, playing Lot Burden (foreman to Hoggard and collector of pew rents at Bethel Chapel) in Saints and Sinners, Captain Redmond in Jim the Penman (according to the NY Times one of the stars of the play as  the "sly seemingly blasé, but effective detective", Dr. Chettle, the family physician in Heart of Hearts, Colonel Moberly in Alabama, and the title role in Colonel Carter of Cartersville.  He was also in Brander Matthews' Margery's Lovers  Shared a birthday (see letter of Sept. 7, 1887 from Boston) with EJ Phillips (but was 18 years younger).

"As an actor he was regarded as a character comedian of the school of Joseph Jefferson and was credited by critics of his day with unfailing delicacy and good taste, precision, infinite humor and sagacity...He had an actor's face -- clean shaven, tight-lipped, with deep-set eyes and a broad dome- shaped head." [DAB] Holland was 35 in 1883. 

EM was the second son of the actor George Holland (whose funeral in 1870 inspired the remark that led to the Church of the Transfiguration being known ever since as "the little church around the corner). George Holland appeared at the Royal Lyceum, Toronto in July 1857 for two weeks. 

EJ Phillips mentions the "Holland seasons" in 1895.and refers to "the Hollands" in the 1890's, as producers.  Strang writes Holland first appeared on the stage in 1866 and a year later joined Lester Wallack's Company, where he stayed until 1880.  After touring England with McKee Rankin he joined the Madison Square Theatre Company, first under the Mallorys and Daniel Frohman and then under AM Palmer, who was his manager until 1895, when Edmund Holland and his brother Joseph began their starring tour.  Next Mr. Holland joined Charles Frohman's forces. ... He supported Olga Nethersole at Palmer's Theatre on her first visit to this country. ... The Holland brothers made their debuts as stars in the Garrick Theatre, New York, on Sept. 2, 1895 in "A man with a Past" ... Although the Hollands met with gratifying success in the larger cities, they were unable firmly to establish themselves as stellar attractions"

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Milton_Holland

William J. LeMoyne (1831-1905) LeMoyne made his acting debut in 1852 in the Lady of  Lyons. He toured in Uncle Tom’s Cabin before the war. He interrupted his acting career to enlist in Company B. 28th Massachusetts Regiment, as a first lieutenant, later captain. Took part in the battles of James Island, second Bull Run,  Chantilly, and South Mountain, where he was wounded. Permanently incapacitated for further service, he was honorably discharged. In after years he was wont to tell stories of picturesque and exciting incidents of his life as a soldier.

After recovering from his war wounds he joined Augustin Daly’s company in New York for two seasons, spent three seasons at the Boston Museum (specializing in Dickens characters) and from 1877 was in New York, variously at the Union Square, Daly’s, Madison Square, and Lyceum stock companies. William Winter [the critic] said “his impersonations of eccentric, humorous peppery old gentleman were among the finest and most amusing that our stage has known.” Dictionary of American Biography LeMoyne was 52 in 1883.   LeMoyne left Palmer in April 1887, a "stormy" break, according to Pat Ryan's dissertation on Palmer caused by LeMoyne signing with Frohman for the following season.

      William LeMoyne self-portrait    Mrs. LeMoyne, Strang's Famous Actresses, 1900
LeMoyne played Mons Gervais Dupuis (banker and broker) in Sealed Instructions, Spring 1885.

He married Sarah Cowell in 1888. Sarah Cowell LeMoyne (1859-1915)  Catalog of Dramatic Portraits  William Winter in The Life of David Belasco 1918 wrote “LeMoyne was an actor of rare talent and remarkable versatility. His impersonations of eccentric, humorous, peppery old gentlemen were among the finest and most amusing that our Stage has known.

We have a watercolor self-portrait he drew and gave to EJ Phillips, inscribed
“I don’t cherish an unchristianlike spirit” A Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year – “Sam Hoggard”  The “Saint”  to E.J.P. “The Sinner”

Since Hoggard was the “evil, money-grubbing deacon” who betrays the minister’s daughter, causing her exile and that of her father (in Saints & Sinners), the inscription appears to be a small joke. The Saints and Sinners program describes Hoggard as a tanner,  and senior deacon of Bethel Chapel.

How did LeMoyne play "the dwarf, Mousta" in WS Gilbert's Broken Hearts?

NY Times obituary NOv 7, 1905 https://www.nytimes.com/1905/11/07/archives/william-j-le-moyne-dead-the-actor-had-spent-60-of-his-75-years-on.html
Funeral Nov 8 1905 https://www.nytimes.com/1905/11/08/archives/le-moynes-funeral-this-morning.html
 
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Le_Moyne

Sarah Cowell LeMoyne Portrait 1877  
The startlingly direct portrait is the work of Jane E. Bartlett, one of the many female students of the leading late nineteenth-century Boston portraitist, William Morris Hunt. Bartlett's sitter was an aspiring young actress named Sarah Cowell, who would make her New York debut the following year. Cowell's forward-leaning and unflinching regard were all but unheard of in female portraits of the period. Painter and sitter were clearly unconventional women distinguished by their professional ambition. Cowell probably sat for Bartlett as a willing model rather than as a patron;

Strang's Famous Actresses has a chapter on Sarah Cowell LeMoyne. She was with the Union Square Company for a season in the early 1880s, playing the mother in A Celebrated Case, a maid in the Banker's Daughter, the opera singer in French Flats and an old woman in the Danicheffs.  She played the old woman first in Chicago and AM Palmer insisted she play it in New York and she offered to play any other part.  But she left the stage (until 1898 when she played Mrs. Lorimer in the Moth and the Flame] to teach elocution and give readings.  While giving readings in England in 1884 she met Robert Browning and "was an important factor in the popularising of his works in this country"... "Mrs. LeMoyne's genius for the delineation of the middle-aged heroine is not exactly paralleled on the English-speaking stage. She understands thoroughly the woman whose life has been chastened by suffering, and whose sympathy for others has been sharpened by experiences that have taught her to judge the world honestly, intelligently, and lovingly." 

Sarah Cowell LeMoyne obituary "An actress who plays Browning" William Lyon Phelps, The Independent Vol 83 1915  http://books.google.com/books?id=3gfmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA394&lpg=PA394&dq=sarah+cowell+lemoyne+obituary&source=bl&ots=2s52J814eC&sig=4BK0IhsmN38rvJncFvqp9oruizY&hl=en&ei=NSGuTtWNIYnz0gHn2bC-Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Cowell_Le_Moyne

AM Palmer    (1838-1905)     Union Square Stock Co  Madison Square Stock Co.  Palmer's Theatre  

Lewis Strang in Players and Plays of the last quarter century writes of Palmer "The next [after Wallack and Daly] of the great producing managers in this country was AM Palmer. He was more fortunate in his ventures with the American drama than was Mr. Daly, yet Mr. Palmer came to regard American plays with almost as much indifference as did Lester Wallack. The success of Alabama was the greatest surprise Mr. Palmer ever had.  For week in and week out he had been producing English plays, and they had failed one after another until the manager was forced into giving Mr. Thomas's despised work a chance.  It proved both a financial and an artistic triumph. Mr. Palmer became manager of the Union Square Theatre, New York in the fall of 1872.  Agnes, a comedy by Sardou, was his first venture, and it proved an immediate success, running one hundred nights. For the next season Mr. Palmer formed a stock company. It was a bold stroke, for three stock companies already existed in New York -- Wallack's in high comedy, Booth's in tragedy and Daly's in lighter comedy and farce of French and German adaptation.

Mr. Palmer gathered together a company capable of idealising the romantic school of the drama, and made his first sensational success with Hart Jackson's adaptation of D'Ennery's and Carmon's The Two Orphans.  [Clara Morris, Charles Thorne, Jr.., Stuart Robson and Mr. and Mrs. McKee Rankin were among the Company] .. For ten years Mr. Palmer guided the fortunes of the Union Square, rarely meeting with misadventure, and stocking to the end to foreign plays, notwithstanding the fact that one of his noteworthy successes was Bronson Howard's The Banker's Daughter ... In September 1884 Mr. Palmer joined with the Mallory brothers of  the Madison Square Theatre, and there he recorded half a dozen years of brilliant achievement"

"In 1890 Mr. Palmer removed his company to Wallack's Theatre, which he renamed Palmer's Theatre, opening the house with Alabama, and later installing there Edward S. Willard, who on his first visit to this country, was remarkably successful with the Middleman and Judah.  Mr. Palmer's leading productions at this theatre were The Broken Seal by Sidney Grundy, Colonel Carter of Cartersville, Aristocracy by Bronson Howard and Mercedes, by Thomas bailey Aldrich and Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde. During these last years, Mr. Palmer did not find his theatrical ventures profitable and he gradually became so involved financially that not even the Paul Potter dramatisation of Du Maurier's Trilby which ran for nearly two years  in New York could save him. Of recent years he has been quite content to pass a quiet existence as Richard Mansfield's manager. Unquestionably Mr. Palmer was more receptive to the American drama than either Lester Wallack or Mr. Daly. Mr. Palmer's final failure was the result of too strong competition in the theatrical business. He could not get plays abroad and he could not get them at home. Mr. Palmer was an eminently intelligent manager, but he was conservative. the plunger had entered the theatre and it was his policy quickly to grab everything in sight. The just-a-trifle-slow and just-a-trifle-old-fashioned manager like Mr. Palmer had to go to the wall."

Pat M. Ryan's 1959 PhD dissertation on AM Palmer, which I consulted at Yale during a class reunion provided a number of details on Palmer's life and career, which I will be adding to these webpages.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Marshman_Palmer

AM Palmer    Walden Ramsey in Jim the Penman, Omaha Excelsior Oct. 13,1888 

Walden Ramsey  (c1855- 1895)  Member of the Madison Square Company 1884-1891, later joining Palmer's Theatre.  He played the villainous brother-in-law in Alabama and was  described in his New York Times obituary as a "good, conscientious actor and an excellent stage manager who could be depended upon to do admirable work.  Played Jack Raddles in Saints and Sinners  and Gerald Dunbar in Sealed Instructions in 1885. The Players' Club Library has Walden Ramsey's manuscript autobiography, according to Ryan's dissertation on AM Palmer. 

NY Times obituary Oct 7 1895 describes Walden Ramsey as "an excellent stage manager" including in the play Trilby. He had been living at 11 East 17th Street. https://www.nytimes.com/1895/10/07/archives/actor-walden-ramsay-dead-mr-palmers-stage-manager-passes-away-after.html

11 East 17th St. http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-1904-houghton-mifflin-bldg-no-11.html Houghton, Mifflin and Company established its retail store on the lower level.  The upper floors remained residential and were rented out to boarders.  ...d well-known actor Walden Ramsey died in the house on October 6, 1895.

Frederic Robinson  (1832-1912) English actor Catalog Dramatic Portraits  Made his first appearance on the stage in York, England Apr. 23, 1849. In July went to Liverpool and in November was in Edinburgh as walking gentleman, where he remained until July 1851. First appeared in London at Sadler's Wells Theatre that year, under Mr. Phelps's management, In 1862 he played at Drury Lane. Was engaged in England in 1865 by Lester Wallack for America. Was at Selwyn's Theatre, Boston season of 1868-69 and 1870. History of the American Stage

Frederic Robinson as Lord Dorchester in Sealed Instructions, Spring 1885

Appears on undated theater bills circa 1873-1875 appearing with Miss EJ Phillips as Queen Katharine and Lawrence Barrett as Cardinal Wolsey in  the title role as King Henry VIII and as Mr. Graves with Lawrence Barrett as Alfred Evelyn and EJ Phillips as Lady Franklin in Bulwer Lytton's Money. William Seymour was the stage manager. 

Played Marcus Latimer, guest at Avonthorpe Priory in Heart of Hearts 1888.

Mr. Robinson played Jim the Penman in that play in Chicago in 1886. He played Mr. Seabrook in Captain Swift He had "a very long part" in Ibsen's Pillars of Society, the one played by Ernest von Possart.

Mr. and Mrs. Robinson both came on the 1888 and 1890 trips to the West.  Do we know who Mrs. Robinson was?  They also went to Chicago in 1892 (just after the Actors Fund Fair).

July 10, 1890, San Francisco  The road [rail from Portland to San Francisco] runs with the Sacramento River, a beautiful stream and a great place for fancy fishing.  Mr. [Frederic] Robinson was wild with delight over the prospect of throwing out his lines there.  He travels with fishing tackle worth a $1000 & goes fishing whenever & where ever he gets an opportunity.  It is a great hobby with him, and I felt sorry he could not stop and have a days sport.  He is in every "bill" however, and will not get much chance to fish this trip. 

Troy, New York, Nov. 13, 1892  Mr. [Frederic] Robinson fortunately was engaged by Miss [Rose] Coghlan and, although at first his engagement was only for six weeks, yet he is going to travel with her for the Season, he having made a big hit in his part in Diplomacy. 

NY Times interview 1894  https://www.nytimes.com/1894/10/28/archives/frederic-robinson-talks-a-sound-dramatic-artists-view-of-the-stage.html

Wrote 54 page autobiography for AM Palmer for his History of the Union Square Theatre.  Much about his fishing and his great reviews.

Annie Russell (Mrs. Presbrey) (1864-1936) Born in Liverpool, her family went to Montreal  when she was five, taking her from a Dublin convent, and put her on the stage in 1872. She made her New York debut in 1879 in HMS Pinafore in the chorus, but soon was playing Josephine, as well as a boy in Rip Van Winkle and Eva in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  … She joined Palmer’s Madison Square company in 1885 and created many important roles there, including Maggie McFarlane in Engaged, Elaine, and Mabel Seabrook in Captain Swift.  She became quite ill in 1889 and two years later went to study and regain her health in Italy, on the proceeds of a Palmer benefit for her. [Oxford Dictionary Theatre, Dictionary of American Biography] Annie Russell was 19 in 1883.  

Annie Russell played Ada in Sealed Instructions, Madison Square Co. Spring 1885


Annie Russell as Ada in Sealed Instructions, Spring 1885             Strang's Famous Actresses
Our Society, San Francisco 1888   Omaha Excelsior Oct. 13,1888 Jim the Penman

Strang's Famous Actresses says "In England they called Annie Russell "the Duse of the English speaking stage".  After playing in New York in HMS Pinafore and in the West Indies in a number of roles at 16 she played Esmerelda at the Madison Square Theatre  [c1880] giving up the part in 1882 when she married Eugene Presbrey.  She also played Maggie in Engaged, Lady Vavir in Broken Hearts, Sylvia Spencer in Our Society and Ada Houghton in Sealed Instructions.  But her greatest success was in Elaine, produced at the Madison Square in Dec. 1887.   "The Elaine of Annie Russell was the ethereal being that a breath might have blown away, and who looked as if she might indeed fade away to death as her heart broke." .. Miss Russell's last appearance before her retirement from the stage in 1889, on account of ill health, was in Captain Swift... Five years of pain and suffering followed, and for a long time it was not expected that she would ever act again. She recovered her health, however, and 1894 returned to the theatre.

Annie Russell taught at Rollins College, Annie Russell Theatre  http://www.rollins.edu/annierussell/

Annie Russell obituary 1946 Millburn NJ https://patch.com/new-jersey/millburn/local-history-thespian-annie-russells-time-in-millburn

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Russell

A Historiography of Informed Imagination: A (Hi)Story Drawn from the Correspondence of Annie Russell and Faith Baldwin, Joseph Bromfield and Jennifer Jones Cavenaugh, Rollins College, 2009 http://scholarship.rollins.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=stud_fac&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%2522annie%2520russell%2522%2520obituary%2520ny%2520times%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D7%26ved%3D0CEwQFjAG%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fscholarship.rollins.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1000%2526context%253Dstud_fac%26ei%3DIkCuTreMMsT30gGGwfWPDw%26usg%3DAFQjCNHXro0mwwK8dbnEP-fokyBkZc1m1g%26sig2%3DNtVGxsurwB43zPkfU0Y1mA#search=%22annie%20russell%20obituary%20ny%20times%22

James Henry Stoddart (1827-1907)  Originally from Yorkshire, England, Stoddart made his American debut in 1854 with Wallack’s Company. “The slim, handsome, if somewhat gaunt-faced actor was immediately recognized as a superior low comedian. A fiery temperament allowed him to stay at Wallack’s only two years, after which he moved to Laura Keene’s.  By 1875 he was playing under Palmer’s aegis at the  Union Square  …Although his prominence later diminished, Stoddart continued to act until he was struck down by a train.” DAB, Autobiography Recollections of a Player (New York, Century 1902).  http://books.google.com/books?id=ASZaAAAAMAAJ&dq=recollections+of+a+player&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Stoddart was 56 in 1883.[portrait of Stoddart from Recollections of a Player and photograph in One Touch of Nature]  Played Jabez Green in STORMBEATEN. Played Jacob Fletcher, minister of Bethel Chapel, Steepleford in Saints and Sinners. Played James Robins, butler at Avonthorpe Priory, and uncle of Lucy (Marie Burroughs) in Heart of Hearts 1888.

Visited California 12 times under Palmer's management  Historical Dictionary of American Theatre https://books.google.com/books?id=Pro7DwAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

James H. Stoddart http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/ref/collection/19thcenturyactors/id/1016  http://digital.library.louisville.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/macauley/id/895/rec/3
63rd anniversary tribute http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FA0D17FF3F5F1B738DDDA80B94D9405B8685F0D3
NY Times obituary Dec. 10 1907 https://www.nytimes.com/1907/12/10/archives/veteran-actor-stoddart-dead-comedians-long-career-on-the-stage.html
Buried Hazel Wood Cemetery, Rahway NJ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/178302687/james-h-stoddart

Bibliography
Ryan, Pat M. AM Palmer, Producer: "A study of management, dramaturgy and stagecraft in the American Theatre  1872-1896, DFA Dissertation, Yale University 1959
Strang, Lewis C.,  Players and Plays of the Last Quarter Century, Boston : L. C. Page & Co., 1902.  http://books.google.com/books?id=3V9EAAAAIAAJ&oe=UTF-8
Union Square Theatre Records 1874-1895 Harvard Theatre Collection, MS Thr 453
Seven boxes with correspondence with AM Palmer, autographs and autobiographies collected from actors. "papers are somewhat organized. Includes folder on Agnes Booth, Maude Harrison, EM Holland,  AM Palmer, EJ Phillips, Walden Ramsey, Frederick Robinson, JH Stoddart
Philip H Ward Collection of Theatrical Images 1856-1910, University of Pennsylvania https://www.jstor.org/site/upenn/ward-theatrical/

Last revised Dec. 29, 2019

1890	10	27	"so bad"	New York NY	Palmers Theatre	Middleman	return from 5 months touring			received part in after return
1890	12	5		New York NY	Palmers Theatre	Judah will take place of Middleman Dec 29th
1890	12	23		New York NY		Jim the Penman Saints & Sinners Capt Swift Madison Square Co to Phila 2 weeks Boston 2 weeks?
1890	12	25		New York NY		Xmas dinner Hotel Nagle, then to Maud Harrison  244 W 23rd St
1891	1	6	sickly piece	New York NY	Palmer's Mad Square Theatre	Esther Sandraz		Mme Fourcanade
1891	1	12	?	New York NY	Madison Square	Her Father		role?
1891	1	20		New York NY	Palmers Theatre	rehearsal of new play tomorrow			Social Fiction?
1891	2	5		New York NY	Palmers Theatre	business matters so unsettled  makes the Governor cross I do not like to get off and dare not go without asking
1891	2	13		New York NY	Palmers Theatre	Alabama reading of new play by Gus Thomas not yet for rehearsal
1891	3	8	to Mar 11	New York NY	Palmers Theatre	Wealth		Mrs Palfreyman EJP replaced  lady in who was not up the requirements
1891	3	16	to Apr 18	New York NY	Madison Square	Pharisee	unfortunate	Miss Maxwell		season closed April 18th
1891	3	22		New York NY	palmers?	Dinner at Eight curtain raiser			Death of Lawrence Barrett "ambitious struggles at an end"
1891	4	18		New York NY	madison Square	season closes traveling with Jim the P Saints & Sinners Capt Swift, Pharisee Spectacles Sunshine Shadows
1891	7	8		New York NY		AM Palmer to Europe		July 12th buried his father so postponed trip
1891	10	10		New York NY		Esther Sandraz
1891	10	18		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	season top opens with Alabama
1891	11	10		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	Middleman		EJP not in Mrs Chandler?
1891	11	13		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	Mrs Scott Siddons matinee over rehearsals for new play begin at once I expect to be wanted
1891	11	23		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	New plays for Wed matinees EJP in			AM Palmer no longer mgr Madi Square
1891	11	27		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	have not had pleasant experience with my mgr do not like to ask for favors  would not do me to be absent
1891	12	16		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	still doing nothing and very tired ot it.  Makes me feel old and useless
1891	12	29	check date	New York NY	Madison Square	Judah		Mrs Pratt?
1892	1	10		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	rehearing new play tomorrow Broken Seal
1892	1	17		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	begin work Wed 8 months and 4 days since I last appeared  Buffalo May 16th  Adelina Patti concert
1892	1	20		New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	Jim the Penman revival		Lady Dunscombe
1892	2	3	to Mar 5	New York NY	Palmer's Theatre	Broken Seal	gloomy	Madelaine French peasant housekeeper
1892	2	7		New York NY		Sarah Bernhardt's cold prevention recipe				SB attended Alabama
1892	4	12		New York NY		rehearsed a new play this morning not very good
1892	5	2	to 7	New York NY	Madison Square	Actors Fund Fair		in Stanford White's new Madison Square Garden raise $1M for orphanage actors
1892	10	5	3 weeks	New York NY		rehearsing every day		very little faith in the play
1892	10	12		New York NY		Columbus day Celebration  took 2 1/2 hours to get home
1893	3	20	3 weeks	New York NY	Union Square	Joseph to Apr 8	Mrs Horace Bellingham			new Waldorf hotel opened Thurs
1893	3			New York NY		Antonio Zavistowski teaching at Knickerbocker School of Dance 14th St

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